After over four years at its previous home a popular Meir pub has relocated to bigger premises with more facilities. 

Swiftys which opened in November 2018 based on Weston Road made the move following proposed rent increases which would have doubled the rent and made the business "unviable".

The new premises at the old library in Meir on Sandon Road opened to the public on Friday (23 June 2023) with a live performance from Paperkite.

Business owner and landlady Michelle Swift said: "The pub itself needed better facilities, the building wasn't up to standard really, so now we've got a pool table, a couple of dart boards and a bit more room.

"Everyone is dead excited about it because as a business we do get a lot of community support and people encourage us to basically carry on and keep doing what we're doing."

The new premises is also host to local charity Meir Matters, who run a community lounge Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10am. The community lounge has expert advice to help with benefits, housing and mental health.

The new venue is spacious and has a pool table and dart boards (LDRS).

The mother of three continued: "The pub formed nearly five years ago now and we formed Meir Matters which is a community group, so we do all kinds of things for Meir, from things like litterpicks, Christmas, mental health workshops and food banks. We do so much for the community that the pub isn't the place for that to happen.

"So for Meir Matters to develop and do even more we need our own space. So the new site is ideal because half is the pub and the other can be used for Meir Matters for events and activities.

"Since Covid trade is very sporadic and distant. It was hard when we first started but now it's even harder. So it is a risk but if we didn't take the risk then all the community stuff we do wouldn't happen and it wouldn't be fair to undo everyone's hard work and kind of lose it."

Swiftys is open Wednesday 7pm-10 pm and Thursday through Sunday 1pm-10.30pm.

READ MORE: Stoke planning roundup: Smoking shelters, new houses and school extensions

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